CVE-2022-35774 in Azure Site Recovery VMWare to Azure
Summary
by MITRE • 08/10/2022
Azure Site Recovery Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2022-35775, CVE-2022-35780, CVE-2022-35781, CVE-2022-35782, CVE-2022-35783, CVE-2022-35784, CVE-2022-35785, CVE-2022-35786, CVE-2022-35787, CVE-2022-35788, CVE-2022-35789, CVE-2022-35790, CVE-2022-35791, CVE-2022-35799, CVE-2022-35800, CVE-2022-35801, CVE-2022-35802, CVE-2022-35807, CVE-2022-35808, CVE-2022-35809, CVE-2022-35810, CVE-2022-35811, CVE-2022-35812, CVE-2022-35813, CVE-2022-35814, CVE-2022-35815, CVE-2022-35816, CVE-2022-35817, CVE-2022-35818, CVE-2022-35819.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/29/2025
The Azure Site Recovery service represents a critical component within Microsoft's cloud infrastructure, providing disaster recovery capabilities for virtual machines and physical servers across hybrid environments. This vulnerability specifically targets the privilege escalation mechanisms within the service's authentication and authorization framework, creating a pathway for malicious actors to elevate their access rights beyond normal operational boundaries. The flaw exists within the service's handling of security tokens and access control lists, potentially allowing unauthorized users to gain administrative privileges or access sensitive data. Such vulnerabilities are particularly concerning given the critical nature of disaster recovery systems which often contain highly sensitive organizational data and control access to production environments.
The technical implementation of this elevation of privilege vulnerability stems from improper validation of user permissions and insufficient access control enforcement within Azure Site Recovery's backend services. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting specially formatted requests that bypass normal authentication checks or by manipulating existing session tokens to gain elevated privileges. The vulnerability likely resides in the service's REST API endpoints or internal communication protocols where privilege levels are not adequately verified before granting access to restricted operations. This type of flaw aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control issues in software systems, and represents a classic example of insufficient privilege checking mechanisms. The vulnerability may also be classified under ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts and privilege escalation through legitimate system access.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, potentially allowing attackers to manipulate disaster recovery configurations, access backup data, or disrupt critical recovery operations. Organizations relying on Azure Site Recovery for business continuity planning face significant risk if this vulnerability is exploited, as attackers could potentially gain access to complete system snapshots or manipulate recovery procedures to their advantage. The attack surface includes not only direct access to the service but also potential indirect impacts through compromised backup data that might contain credentials or other sensitive information. Recovery operations could be disrupted or compromised entirely, leading to extended downtime or data loss scenarios during actual disaster recovery events. The vulnerability's exploitation could result in data exfiltration, system compromise, or denial of service conditions that would severely impact business continuity planning.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should include immediate implementation of Microsoft's security patches and updates, along with comprehensive monitoring of authentication events and privilege escalation attempts within Azure environments. Organizations should conduct thorough access control reviews to ensure least privilege principles are enforced across all Site Recovery configurations. Network segmentation and firewall rules should be implemented to restrict access to Site Recovery services to only authorized administrative endpoints. Security teams must also implement robust logging and alerting mechanisms to detect unusual privilege escalation patterns or unauthorized access attempts. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify additional vulnerabilities in the disaster recovery infrastructure. Additionally, implementing multi-factor authentication and just-in-time access controls can significantly reduce the risk of exploitation, while maintaining proper audit trails and compliance monitoring ensures ongoing security posture validation. The vulnerability highlights the importance of continuous security monitoring and rapid patch deployment in cloud environments where critical infrastructure services reside.